Review of Ira & Abby (2006) by Tomas L — 08 Dec 2007

A neurotic Jewish man named Ira(Messina) meets the free spirited Abby and gets married within hours of meeting eachother. What follows is essentially a predictable mishmash of many other painful-to-watch movies about neurotic jews with family issues.

I didn't know anything about this movie when I put it on. It was in my ever growing pile of movies to watch that don't warrant "top of the pile" status. Within minutes of watching this movie I was thinking A.) How many movies about neurotic jewish writers with commitment issues can possibly be made before the very celluloid it's being filmed on rolls it's eyes? and B.) Is this from the writer of 'Kissing Jessica Stein'? Well, right after that Ms. Westfeldt popped up and my suspicions were confirmed. This filmed only confirmed that 'Kissing Jessica Stein' was a little over-rated (which I thought when I watched it, and almost turned it off after 10 minutes - mainly due to the jazz soundtrack and pretentious dialogue). This movie is really a rehash of the same dynamics, only without the lesbian kick. It is a plus that Westfeldt did attempt to modify her character. Abby is definitely not Jessica, but oddly enough, Ira is.

There are some scenes in this film that really work (the subway scene) and some supporting performances that are worth a look (Light, Conroy), but for the most part it's pretty standard stuff.

If you're neurotic and Jewish, then this is a movie you will likely enjoy. Like the Greeks and that Nia Vardolos film, or gay Italians and that Mambo Italiano film, or even potheads and that Half-Baked thing. This is a niche film that will likely make people outside of that niche roll their eyes and utter profanity.